Hann minnir mig á fundinn í hádeginu.

Breakdown of Hann minnir mig á fundinn í hádeginu.

hann
he
mig
me
í
at
hádegið
the noon
fundurinn
the meeting
minna á
to remind
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Questions & Answers about Hann minnir mig á fundinn í hádeginu.

What does minnir mean here, and what is the basic pattern of the verb?

minna means to remind. The common pattern is:
minna + (person in accusative) + á + (thing in accusative)
So Hann minnir mig á fundinn = He reminds me of/about the meeting (i.e., he causes me to remember it).


Why is it mig and not ég?

Because mig is the accusative form of ég (I/me).
In minna (einhvern) á (eitthvað), the person being reminded is the direct object, and direct objects are often in the accusative in Icelandic.

  • ég = I (subject)
  • mig = me (object)

Why does it say á fundinn—what is á doing, and why is fundinn in that form?

With minna, Icelandic normally uses the preposition á (roughly of/about).
That á then takes the accusative in this construction, so fundur (meeting) becomes fundinn (accusative singular definite).


What exactly is fundinn—is that “the meeting”?

Yes. fundinn is:

  • noun: fundur (meeting)
  • case/number: accusative singular
  • definiteness: definite (the -inn ending = “the”)

So fundinn = the meeting (specifically, as an accusative object after á here).


Why is í hádeginu used, and why does hádeginu end in -inu?

í often means in/at, and with time-when expressions it commonly takes the dative.
hádegi is a neuter noun meaning noon / midday, and the form hádeginu is dative singular definite (“at noon / at midday”).


Could I also say um hádegi instead of í hádeginu?

Often yes. um hádegi is very common for around/at noon.

  • um hádegi: focuses on the time point/around that time
  • í hádeginu: can feel like at midday / during midday, using a “within that time” framing
    Both can be translated as at noon in many contexts.

Is the word order fixed, or can parts move around?

It’s flexible, but Icelandic is verb-second (V2) in main clauses: the finite verb tends to come second.
You can move time phrases forward for emphasis:

  • Í hádeginu minnir hann mig á fundinn. (At noon, he reminds me of the meeting.)
    Or move the object phrase:
  • Hann minnir mig á fundinn í hádeginu. (neutral)

Does Hann minnir mig á... ever mean “he resembles ...” like English “reminds me of”?

Yes, with the same structure minna mig á X, it can mean either: 1) remind me of X (make me think of / remember)
2) resemble X (make me think of because of similarity)

In this sentence, because fundinn is an event (a meeting), the natural reading is the “remind me about/of (the meeting)” meaning, not physical resemblance.


What tense is minnir, and what would the past tense look like?

minnir is present tense, 3rd person singular: he reminds.
The past is typically minnti:

  • Hann minnti mig á fundinn í hádeginu. = He reminded me of the meeting at noon.

How do you pronounce this sentence (roughly)?

A practical approximation:

  • Hannhatn (the nn is often a “pre-stopped” sound)
  • minnirMIN-nir (stress on the first syllable)
  • migmig (short i)
  • á = ow/au (a diphthong, not a long plain “ah”)
  • fundinnFUN-din (with the same kind of nn effect at the end)
  • í hádeginuee HOW-they-nee-noo (roughly; stress on há-)